The Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) “are the territory of China and date back to 1403 during the reign of the Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Yongle,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a rejection of a sovereignty claim outlined by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
At a press conference on Thursday evening called to address issues of disputed territory, Noda said “there is no doubt ” that the islands, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, “are an integral part of Japan” and he denied that sovereignty over the island chain is being disputed.
Noda was quoted by the Central News Agency (CNA) as saying that the difference between the issue of the Diaoyutais and that of the contested Takeshima Islands, named by South Korea as Dokdo, was that its sovereignty claim over the Senkakus is “undisputed.”
Noda said China had not asserted sovereignty over the Senkaku until the 1970s when it learned that the islands are possibly situated nearby large reserves of oil, the CNA report said.
The Meiji government incorporated the Senkaku Islands into Okinawa Prefecture in 1895 after it had confirmed that the islands were not under the control of the Qing Dynasty, Noda said.
Noda’s statement provided a rebuttal to repeated calls made by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration that Japan must first recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands before they can move toward resolving their disagreement over the territory through peaceful means as spelt out in his East China Sea peace initiative.
In response to Noda, the ministry said his statement was “unacceptable” and reiterated that “our government sticks firmly to its sovereignty contention over the Diaoyutais.”
It is indisputable that the Diaoyutais are an inherent part of territory of the Republic of China and affiliated islands of Taiwan from the perspective of history, geography, geology, international law and traces of ancient settlements, the ministry said.
“In terms of history, the name Diaoyutai first appeared in the Chinese book Voyage with the Tail Wind in 1403, the first year of the Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Yongle, which showed that the islands were discovered, named and used by the Chinese,” the ministry said.
The ministry said there were other descriptions of the island chain in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty historical documents showing that “the islands were first discovered, named, used, and incorporated into the territory by ancestors of our country.”
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Diaoyutais were also designated as Chinese territory in maps published by China and other countries, it said.
The ministry countered Noda’s contention as to when and how the islands were incorporated into Japan’s territory.
Official Meiji documents showed that Japan’s territorial ambitions around the Diaoyutai Islands began in 1885 after it knew that the islands had been found and claimed by China, the ministry said.
The ministry said Japan continued to postpone the issue at the time because then-Shanghai-based newspaper, the Shanghai Mercury, reported that Japan was planning to seize the Chinese islands.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS